Newcomers and old members alike of an Iowa club are gathering in Ames to ponder the mysterious cosmos.

Kim Rasler is new to central Iowa, and after looking through the paper, decided to make the hour-long drive from her home in Norwalk to Ames to get a refresher course in something she hadn’t thought about since college.

Rasler was joined by 26 others and a few taxidermied animals at the Ames Area Amateur Astronomers monthly star party at the Story County Conservation Center in McFarland Park.

“When I read it in the paper, it just sounded really interesting, so I headed up here to check it out,” Rasler said.

This month’s club speaker was Dr. Jim Gohman, a retired physician and member of five years.

Gohman went through the progression of astronomical thought and ideas from the earliest days of organized civilization.

“It’s a historical outline of how we arrived at where we are today,” Gohman said.

Gohman made the Greeks’ calculations of interstellar distance seem simple by using basic geometry, but quickly pointed out some flaws in their thinking.

“They were sure the Earth can’t be orbiting the Sun, otherwise our hats would fall off from the wind,” Gohman said.

He kept the group’s attention with opportunistic humor.

When a member of the audience disagreed with a point he made, he took the criticism in stride and followed it up with a comment that drew a roar of laughter.

“Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but to disagree with me is heresy, and you will be burned at the stake for it,” Gohman joked.

Club president Al Johnson said the attendance for the meeting was a little larger than normal, but it varies a lot.

“Some days we will be full of little Cub Scouts, so the group will be much larger,” Johnson said. “But other times there won’t be anybody from the public here and it will be all group members.”

The group meets at star parties on the second Saturday of every month, beginning with a speaker and including stargazing if weather permits.

It also meets on the third Saturday of the month.

The group was formed in the mid-80s to give Ames residents a chance to gather together and share their mutual interest in the cosmos.

The group slowly grew in size and now has about 65 members, Gohman said.

“We are here basically to promote astronomy and reach out to the community,” he said.

“We are here to serve the public.”

Both Johnson and Gohman encourage anyone who is interested to attend a meeting and discover what the club is about.

Astronomers of all levels are welcome.

“You don’t need any special knowledge or equipment to come,” Gohman said.

The feel of the meeting was that all in attendance were equal, and that everyone shared an interest and was there to learn.

“We are all kind of made of nuclear waste anyway,” Gohman said.